Estate Planning Tips for Newlyweds: 5 Things To Do After Saying "I Do"

Estate Planning Tips for Newlyweds: 5 Things To Do After Saying "I Do"

Posted By J. Roland Jeter, P.C. || 7-Jun-2018

One of the most important things you need to do after getting married is
to make sure that your estate plan will protect your new family. To accomplish
this, you will need to update all of your legal documents to reflect your
decisions about important issues that will affect your family’s
future. Below, we explain 5 things that you should do to
plan your estate after getting married.

Make a Will

Your first step should be to
make a will that dictates how you want your assets to be distributed to your family
members and other individuals you choose to include. Many couples who
have just married don’t think that making a will should be one of
their top priorities. Often, young couples assume that because they don’t
have very many assets, they don’t need to worry about it. However,
when someone dies without a will, their assets are distributed in accordance
with state law, which means their belongings aren’t guaranteed to
go their spouse or family members. Having a will in place will ensure
that your possessions are distributed in accordance with your wishes.
If you have already made a will, you need to update it to include your
new spouse, even if you already have a prenuptial agreement in place.

Update Designated Beneficiaries

If you or your spouse have a 401k or IRA account, you need to update who
the beneficiary is for those accounts. You should also do the same for
any life insurance policies you might have. This is crucial because beneficiary
designations carry more weight than a will when it comes to these types
of accounts. For all of your bank accounts, make sure to designate a Joint
Rights of Survivorship for each account with the bank. You should talk
to your spouse about which person should be the beneficiary of each account.

Update Homeownership Paperwork

When a couple gets married, one or both of the partners will bring their
existing property into the marriage. Other times, the couple will purchase
property together before or after their wedding. Whatever the circumstances
are, it is important to have a conversation about whose name should be
on the homeownership documents.

Dictate Powers of Attorney & Medical Directives

Now that you have married the person who will weather all of life’s
ups and downs with you, you need to ensure that they will be able to speak
on your behalf if you are ever in a situation where you are unable to
express your own wishes. Making or updating medical and financial
powers of attorney will ensure that your significant other can advocate for your wishes when
you are unable to do so yourself.

Make Arrangements for Any Children & Pets

If you will be caring for your spouse’s children now that you are
married, your estate planning documents should be updated to reflect how
you want your assets to be distributed within the structure of your new
family. Additionally, if you and your spouse have pets, you should consider
making a pet trust or discuss other ways of providing for your pets if
one or both of you don’t have the ability to do so yourselves.

Attorney Roland Jeter also Serves
as Counsel to McCarthy Law PLC

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

Not certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of Texas